Animal confining means



Aug. 29, 1950 E. s. DIEHL ANIMAL CONFINING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 28, 1944 Patented Aug. 29, 1950 UNIT an s mr as were o-s $520,385.

Elias StanleyDiehL Bedf'ord; Ba.

Application 0ntob'er 28, 1944', Serial No..560','8 55:

7.Claims. 1,

My invention. rel-ates. to means; for; maintain ing dairy cowsin-positionfor milking;

One. phase of: the invention has to do..-w-itlr novel stanchion means for. securing the cow at. the manger while. in another. phaseritl deals with shiftable means-for maintaining thecow shind. quarters. substantially: aligned: with the manger. Saidstanchionmeans and said shift-- ablemeans. are preferably used conjointly, and:

whenso. used. have a. common. mounting. means and are controlled by anommonactuatingmeans.

Which.- moves them. to. and froml operative position.

Theinventionresides. in certain 1 novel features of, construction, combination. and. arrangement. of the, various? parts, and. in: modesoi. operatiozn.

the advantages. of. all. of; which. will: bereadily.

understood and. appreciated. by. dairymen. and...

others from a readingoij. thefbllowing, detailed.

description .of' centain. examples. of my. inventive.

concept, which are disclosed. in the. accompany. ing 1 drawings.

It should be understood; however, that the. drawing disclosures are: to beconsidered' as illusv trative,. rather than llmitati'veit being. obvious that the invention in its various phases is susceptible. of various. mechanical expressions within the spirit and scopeofthe appended" claims.

In the: drawing;

Fig; 1 isxa front elevation, partly in section;

of'a stanchion incorporating my invention;.

Fig.- 2 isalikeview'of'the Fig..l'disclosurB', but

showingthestanchionadjusted to fit. a larger Fig; 3isa horizontal'section taken on .theplane; I

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section taken" on theplane of-the-lihei 4=4-of.-'Fig; 1-;-

Fig. 5 is a;.fragmentary,planrview of a details parts "being shown in horizontal section;

Fig; 6' isa fragmentary verticai section taken onthe'plane of the line 6-E of-Fig: ,5',

Fig. 'T-is'a verticaPsection on the'line l I of." Fig 2; and an elevation,of a detail, parts being Referring specifically to Figs; 1.-7, inclusive, of"

2. the drawing; 9: designates the base i or floor: just rearwardly' of theusual mang-en (not: shown).- of a; dairy. barn; which is diV-ided,-. at the. manger into; what-might; be termedstalls by thelusual.

l upright members Ill,

For. the. purpose. of. convenience butat single stall has-been-shown; but it is understood. that asmany as necessary may; beadded. At: the

uppen endrofr each. member. Ill there is? provided.

a. bearing H. The bearings H are. in axial align. mentand rotatably mount a shatt t2. Azshortl. distance below the shaft l2, an elongated sup port llllis fixedly secured to'ther uprights III? by any suitable means [4.- Substantially midway" between the support Itandthe floor etsuitable means l5 mountopposed pulleys I firwher'ebyeach stalllis ,provided with aipair ot pulleys. The base... 9,. intermediate each pair of uprights It has set therein. the. usual. rod. IT. to. which the. stanchion... members. 22 are attached... A nut 18a is of. flexible. stanchion members 22. which take theiormof leather. coveredchains. The upper. ends. of. the flexible.stanchionnnembersii. are. fixedly attached tothe shaftJZisothat they will. be wrappedtherearound asthe shaft. is rotated .in one direction. and. unwound therefromwhenthe. shaft is. rotated in. the opposite. direction, WhGIEb'yjO tighten and'slacken. the members 22;.

Theshaft t2 has fixed thereon. aplurality of spaced. spools. or. drums 33; two being provided. for each stall'and' so located that one is. adjaa cent each upright. l0. Each drum. 33. has. fixed. thereto one endof a cable or other flexible member 2'62 Theopposite endlofjeach cable 26 Iis threaded through one. of the pulleys I62 and is. attached; to anintermediatepoint.of the come-- spending flexible. member 22. by. any. suitable. means atiB. the spools 332m a direction opposite. tothe windiing of. the members. 22., whereby. the cables 25. will be tightened as wound. onlthe. drumsl33j and; the members 221 loosened as. unwound. from the shaft [2 when the shaft l21is. rotated. in one directionand'lvice versai The-.supportLmembea [3, intermediate each-pair. oij. uprights. ll], provided .with, a. plurality.- of

The. cables 25f are. wound. around;

upper ends.

longitudinally spaced holes 40. A pair of bolts or the like 21 are passed through selected ones of the holes 40 and mount thereon spools or other rotatable guide members 28 for the stanchion members 22. An intermediate bolt or like member 29 mounts a plate or like keeper member 30, havin a pair of aligned horizontal slots 3! for receiving the free ends 32 of the bolts 27. The keeper 3t prevents escape of the stanchion members 22 from the guides 28 and the guides insure proper spacing of the stanchion members 22 at their It follows from this structure and from the foregoing description of the member I9 and associated structure that the upper and lower portions of the flexible stanchion members 22 may be adjustably spaced from each other to accommodate animals of different size. Thus, in Fig. 2, the stanchion members are adjusted to accommodate a larger animal than is the case in Fig. 1.

The operation of the device is readily apparent from the foregoing and may be summarized as follows: Assuming the stalls are empty, the stanchion members 22 are in the broken line position of Fig. 1 and are locked in such position by the engagement of the laterall extending pin of the horizontally pivoted dog 34 in the notches 35 of a suitable clutch member 35. When the animals enter the stalls they naturally extend their heads between the uprights Hi to get at the feed in the manger which is forwardly of the floor portion 9. This action automaticall positions the necks C of the animals between the stanchion members 22, as shown. The operator can now fasten all the animals in their stalls by releasing the dog 34 and rotating the shaft l2 by the handle 31 in a counter-clockwise direction. This simultaneously loosens the cables 26 and tightens the stanchion members 22 whereby they assume the solid line positions of Figs. 1 and 2. The horizontally swingable mounting of the lower member l9 and the inherent flexibilit of the stanchion members 222 permit free movement of the animal in the stall but, at the same time, prevent the escape of the animal. The flexibility of the stanchion members 22 reduces the possibility of callouses or the like being formed on the animal, and, also permits the stanchion members 22 to be opened much wider than is possible with the usual rigid stanchion members. To release the animals, the dog 34 is again disengaged and the shaft i2 is rotated in a clockwise direction which returns the stanchion members to the broken line position.

A modification of the device is seen in Fig. 8, wherein the rod member is provided with a cap i l8 having an eye I is formed thereon to receive a ring I29. A flexible stanchion member I22 is passed through the ring I26 and is slidabie therein. Aside from this bottom connection of the stanchion to the base 9, the remainder of the modification is exactly like that of the first described form in both structure and operation.

In Figures 9 and 10, I incorporate with the stanchion of Figs. 17, means in the form of laterally spaced simultaneously controlled partition posts 4| there being one such carried by and substantially aligned with each stall-defining post Hi. The partition posts 4! and their mounting and control means being identical, description thereof will be in the singular. A partition post 4|, in its operative Fig. position, is located at a point at least mid-way the length of the cow on either her right or left side, for preventing shifting of her hind quarters sidewise during milking.

Except as to details of the operating shaft (I2 4 of Figs. 1 and 2) its carrying bearings, locking and actuating means the Figs. 9 and 10 stanchion disclosure is identical with the Figs. 1 and 2 showing thereof, and consequently the same reference characters have been employed to designate corresponding parts.

As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, the shaft 42, which corresponds to shaft |2 of Figs. 1 and 2, is extended beyond its rightmost bearing 43 (corresponding to H in Figs. 1 and 2) to receive the drum 44 upon which is received and wound the partition' post control cable 45.

Outwardly of drum 44 is keyed the notched disk, or clutch element 46 similar to element 36 of Figs. 1 and 2. Shaft 42 is operated by crank 31 and the dog 48 of pivoted lever 49 is adapted to engage notches 46a of disk 46. (See 34, 36- Figs. 1 and 2.)

As shown in Figs. 9 and 10, shaft bearings 43 take the form of a T and the preferably integral upwardly and r'earwardly slanting tubular stem portions 43a thereof carry the extension arms 50. To the outer ends of extension arms 50 are pivoted, as at 5|, the depending links 52 whose lower ends provide the pivot support 53 for the bifurcated upper end bearing of post 4|.

As best shown in Fig. 10, cable 45 passes rearwardly from drum 44 to engagement with the lower link pivot 53. The pivot 53 may, and preferably does, take the form of an elongated rod, so as to provide pivot connection between adjacent link 52 and post 4| assemblies, as suggested in Fig. 9. Cable 45 is so wound upon drum 44 that when shaft 42 is rotated to move stanchion portions 22 to the dotted line position of Fig. 1, the lower end of the partition post will be lifted out of the slightly elongated floor-provided receiving recess 54 and swung upwardly and rearwardly to the out-of-the-way position adjacent the stanchion posts H), as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 10. And, of course, it naturally follows that when stanchion members 22 are being operated to retain a cows head, the post members will be moved to the full line position of Fig. 10.

Thus, it is intended that there shall be two posts 4|. for each stall which are spaced substantially in alignment with the posts ID. The posts 4| are all connected to the horizontal bar 45a and the cable 45 is connected as at the right hand side as seen in Fig. 9 to said horizontal bar 45a, whereby upon operation of the drum 44 and cable 45 the bar 45ctis moved to lift the plurality of posts 4| to either the dotted or full line positions as seen in Fig. 10, in which, of course, only the post 4| at the extreme right hand end is shown.

When the partition posts assume the dotted line position of Fig. 10, the cows, having been simultaneously released from stanchion means 22 can simply pull their heads rearwardly, and in the same movement turn and move toward the barnyard door without encountering any obstructions.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. Animal confining means for barns and the like comprising in combination, a pair of spaced substantially vertically disposed neck-retaining members, means including a rotatable, horizontally disposed shaft adjacent the upper ends of said members for actuating the same to and from operative position; a carrier bearing for said shaft disposed laterally and outwardly of each of said neck retaining members, a rearwardly and upwardly extending support carried by said bearing, animal space-defining means carried by said supports and movable to and from operative position, and operating means for said space-defining means carried by said shaft.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1, and said animal space-defining means being in the form of a depending link-carried post, and the operating means therefor including a flexible shaft-carried connection.

3. Animal retaining means for dairy barns or the like, comprising a pair of substantially vertically disposed and flexible neck gripping members, means anchoring the lower ends of said members, rotatable means anchoring the upper ends of said members in laterally spaced relation, said last named means being adapted to tighten said members when rotated in one direction and loosen said members when rotated in the opposite direction, spreading means for each of said neckgripping members and comprising an outwardly acting flexible connection operatively connected to said members intermediate the ends of the latter and to said rotatable anchoring means to spread said members when said rotatable anchoring means is rotated in a member loosening direction, and a direction changing guide means for each of said flexible connections.

4. The structure of claim 3, and guide means for neck-gripping flexible members between said intermediate portions thereof and the upper ends, said guide means being operatively connected to said flexible connections and adjustable towards and away from each other to vary the spacing of said first named flexible members.

5. Animal confining means for cows or other animals in a barn comprising spaced upstanding supports adapted to be carried by the floor or the like adjacent a manger, bearings carried at the upper ends of said supports, a rotatable shaft mounted in said bearings, actuating means for said shaft, locking means therefor, upwardly and rearwardly extending bars carried by said shaft bearings, an animal-space defining member movably carried by each of said bars, and actuating means carried by said shaft for moving said space-defining members to and from operative position.

6. The combination set forth in claim 5, and each of said space defining members comprising a post, a link pivoted adjacent one end to the associated bar and pivoted adjacent the other end to said post, and said shaft carried actuating means for said post including a flexible connection.

7. The combination set forth in claim 5, and each of said space defining members comprising a post, a link pivoted adjacent one end to the associated bar and pivoted adjacent the other end to said post, said shaft carried actuating means for said post including a flexible connection, and means connecting said post-link assemblies for simultaneous movement.

ELIAS STANLEY D IEHL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 288,335 Hicks Nov. 13, 1883 786,350 Ferris Apr. 4, 1905 852,439 Lattin May 7, 1907 999,958 Champion Aug. 8, 1911 1,009,807 Titrud Nov. 28, 1911 1,099,623 Sletten June 9, 1914 1,186,514 James June 6, 1916 1,641,810 Gutenkunst Sept. 6, 1927 1,676,568 McCandless July 10, 1928 1,797,159 Shafer Mar. 17, 1931 1,867,722 Wille July 19, 1932 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 570,430 France Jan. 16, 1924 458,671 Germany Apr. 17, 1928 61,839 Norway Jan. 2, 1940 

